7 weeks into internship

At the beginning of this summer, financial service industry was a completely new area for me. In the past 7 weeks, through working and attending summer speaker series, I have learned so much about the industry. Digitization and urbanization are two of the biggest trends impacting people’s life. Financial service industry has certainly evolved around these topics as well. The whole industry has invested billions of dollars to develop technologies that provide better, faster and cheaper financial services. Financial institutions will continue making investments in technology in the future, and technology will continue shaping the industry.

Few years ago, Citi redirect its strategy to promote responsible finance and to focus on its core business. Through my work at Citi tax, I can certainly feel these changes going through the whole organization. There were many successful spin-off transactions during the last 2 years. They are part of the execution of Citi’s strategy to get out of the areas that are not in line with the company's strategy so that we can focus on customer and services related business. These spin-off transactions are also a result of higher liquidation and capital requirement in financial service industry after the 2007 financial crisis. Banks started to act more conservatively, and authorities are trying to figure out better ways to guide the industry.

In terms of company culture, Citi promotes diversity and encourage employees to gain exposures by taking positions in different functions, products and regions. I was amazed by the level of mobility and the amount of transitions people could make within Citi. Lots of people that I have talked to have taken advantage of Citi’s global representation by taking international rotations. Their exposure to different circumstances and challenges not only provide them the full-picture view of the organization, but also enable them to bring the best practice together, and come up with innovative ideas.

It was an awesome experience!

Hey guys… here I come, for every beginning there must be an end. It was an awesome experience having this opportunity to learn what I couldn’t have learnt in the classroom regarding hi- tech industry. I was able to build on my existing skills while contributing globally to Dell’s growth.
The feedback from my manager after my ten-minutes final presentation to the executives on my 11-weeks summer project, was a reflection of my performances, as I quote “solid impression…Patrick….good speed and tone…congrats…you grow under pressure”!  Well I wouldn’t expect anything less than that from him because in last two weeks to the final presentation, the course of my project changed more than four times which put me under intensive pressure. This was no one’s fault but the complexity of the project and dynamic nature of the industry.
This summer project has offered me more than enough opportunities to learn beyond my imagination. I was able to leverage my interpersonal skill to grow my network within Dell and hi-tech industry at large. I have tremendously built on my ability to collaborate with team in order to get my assignment done at as when due. Working under pressure has been the order of the day for the past ten weeks, which has greatly informed my fast learning and growing ability. Also I have been able to take advantage of the fortnightly project update presentations to develop my power point knowledge and presentation skill.
I would love to mention what I would have done differently, considering the short period of summer project; probably I should have pushed my manager to narrow down my project scope from the beginning which could have given me ample time to be deeper in a particular area.
However, it was great working with awesome people at Dell.

A Great Learning Experience

After nearly one month of interning, I really learned a lot from it. Healthcare industry is a totally different area for me, although I am interested in it for a time. During the internship, I met the doctors and nurses in person, watch operations carried out in the operation rooms, and observed the patients during all the time. Hospital’s mysterious feeling was disappearing day by day when I watched all kinds of routine work happened in it. Surgeons, who I used to think were super smart and whose jobs were too complicated for common people to understand, became common too. Their work is comprised from detailed knowledge of human bodies, carefulness and attention, and long-time training for more accuracy and efficiency. However, I was still moved by their spirit of professionalism when they cared every small thing related to potential danger to the patients’ health. When you see them washing their hands so thoroughly before operation, or disinfecting patients’ body so carefully, you can feel the responsibility in their hearts. Through the internship experience in this summer, I witnessed something precious that people do not care for the sake of money.

Another knowledge I obtained from the project so far is a deeper understanding of market potentials. I used to put focus on the maturity level of a market, thinking that only developed market could afford high margin goods and hold great profit potentials. However, during market research and discussion, I found market growth rate can be another standard for evaluating a market, even though the market is relatively new. Considering the growth aspect of a market would provide a more comprehensive view of the market for a long time. I have met with real examples of such views these days. When two comparable competitors entered into the same market, one cultivated its brand and sales force early on even the market was a small one; the other was just unwilling to invest more resources than the profit the market could bring then. However, after around 10 years, the first player enjoyed a much more solid market share while the other one is working very hard to catch up.

The finale

12 weeks….it is indeed amazing how time flies.  In 12 weeks the sun has risen and set 84 times, new friends have been made and colleagues have left the company.

My final presentation  to the team is on Tuesday. Here I will brief my team on the three projects I completed, giving a synopsis and producing a transition document.  My presentation will also include a list of thank yous to various individuals without whom  I would not have  been able to get up to speed.

As I reflect on my internship, I feel this has been a very eventful journey – working in the tech industry has made me appreciate the culture, the work –life balance and also the kinds of work available if you are not a hardware/software engineer.  Exposure to the job fluidity within the industry is also a nice experience……a lot of Creative Destruction taking place in the valley – exit opportunities and entry opportunities are many. I have improved several skillsets – presentation and analytical among them.

Having more fun while it lasts….is what I would encourage everyone to do so.  You will not realize how time flies. I started attending the bay area Ross Intern meet ups held every weekend and it was fabulous.  We all had similar experiences across firms/companies.  We are all also hoping that we get offers for full time positions but getting full time offers depends on several things at once – head count projections, internship performance, reviews etc.  I also recommend building your network within the company and with fellow interns in other companies as it will help improve your general knowledge about the tech industry.    Also it is important to participate in intra company events, so that you are able to greater appreciate the culture of the company.

My final notes: Work diligently, Network Broadly and Appreciate fully!

Group project in New York

An important part of our summer internship program at Citi is this two-week group project in New York. All associates working for different business functions in commercial banking are pre-assigned to groups of 6 to 8 people to solve a real business case, come up with recommendations and present them to senior leaders at the end. It’s essentially a five-day internal consulting project designed to evaluate our performance in leadership, business acumen and teamwork spirits. It was an intense and highly pressured project, which covers five markets in three different continents, serving over 10 million potential customers.

After this group project, my internship has only two weeks left. Apart from saying time flies, all of the interns that I met in New York, including myself are anxiously waiting to see if we will get return offers with Citibank. Therefore, every team member is working really hard together, trying to come up with some brilliant business ideas that can solve the real business cases for the bank. In earlier this week, summer interns from all business functions and all study programs were gathered at the Bank’s New York headquarter for the speech delivered by Vikrum Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup. In his speech, Mr Pandit talked about the importance of integrity in the world of finance and Citi’s transition to more transparent and responsible lending since he took the helm during the global financial crisis. The conference room was filled with over 600 summer interns, both undergraduate and graduate students from all the top business schools around the country. It was a great event in the summer.

Besides work, New York is always a great place to be in terms of social life and nice food. Talking about food, I arrived just in time for the New York restaurant week, which lasts for three weeks with about 100 participating restaurants. I went out several times with my fellow summer classmate to some nice restaurants in New York and had some really good time there. Lastly, I just hope that our team presentation in front of some very senior people in Citi goes well next week. Fingers crossed.

Diversity, Exposure, Cooperation and Work-life balance.. Loving NYC

Hello friends. This was my 7^th week , one more week down in my internship at Citibank., so I have 3 more to go. This was a veeeeeery busy week, for me that I really care about work life balance, I can say that the past days were the only in which I really had to stay late. This week was about working in a group project, which basically is solving a business issue for a division that is not familiar to the team, and working with 7 people. It may sound easy but it wasn’t. The big challenge was to deal with so many people in this team, so I had to go back to my MO classes and take many useful tips. 

Another thing that happened this week, was our speaker series with Vikram Pandit Citi’s CEO. Needless to say that it was great, very smart guy who was born in India, and very down to earth, even charismatic. Which takes me to the first topic of today, the company culture. Which has three major components.  First, diversity across divisions and business units. It is very natural to see people from everywhere interacting with each other. Which make sense as they are know as the global bank. Citi is not the biggest bank in US, nor in the world, but is the only bank that has presence in more than 180 countries. Hence, diversity plays a critical role and you see this in all different levels. A CEO who is from India, another who is from Mexico,  directors from UK, Venezuela, Italy,  China, and you name it. For me it has worked very well, as being international student, you feel that you are in a very open space where they are willing to promote and develop people from outside of US. 

Another important component of Citi’s culture, is it openness with senior management.  This speaker series with our CEO is only a good example, but we’ve had had this type of thing with other very senior leaders along the summer internship. Twice per week to be more precise.  This exposure not only has helped to understand other areas of the organization, but also to get worthwhile tips about personal and professional development. I found this very relevant, as in my previous work someone told me once. “In a company it is not only about delivering and working hard, you have to develop leadership behaviors and get exposure from senior levels” The latter helps not only to learn, but sometimes it may connect you with someone who share your background.  Another aspect that I have enjoyed so far, is the cooperative culture. It is important to note that I work in consumer banking, whose culture may vary from Investment Banking and Sales & Trading. Departments that are also part of Citi, but that require more daily hours, which changes the dynamic of the work. 

Well, as I was saying, in consumer banking it is very common to work in cross-functional teams, and being evaluated by your pers. This two things push the cooperation among team-members, as you know that everyone needs from everyone, and that your rating or the decision of hire or not hire will depend on the evaluation of your teammates. I enjoy working and interacting with people, so it works for me. However, it may be people who like more the individual work. But as I said, there is no good or bad, the only important thing is to understand, and look for the right fit. 

So far, I have had a great experience at Citi, and I love that they foster these three things on Citi’s culture: Diversity, openness with senior leaders, and cooperative teamwork. And probably, I will add another component that creates a good environment, good work-life balance. Here In NYC I ‘ve had the opportunity to read, work out, work, and go out on a daily basis. Which at least for me, is a great experience. This is it for now; I hope you have enjoyed my stories so far; I will be posting soon my last one. See you until then.

Miguel

Closing Thoughts

Although this final post is supposed to be about the end of my internship, I still have a couple of weeks remaining. This past week, I completed one of my final projects to support our team's private wealth management group's client pitch, including models, strategy outlooks, and market outlooks. It was a great experience to learn about various investment products. However, I do not envision myself entering a career within private wealth management. Four Wood’s operations go far beyond PWM though, and there are various opportunities to work across different areas of the investment universe.

As for my remaining projects, I have yet to complete an investment pitch for a private equity group looking at high yield real estate investments in Brazil. Working on due diligence for this project, I gained a lot of insight on global economic trends and market-shifting indicators. This will definitely be useful for me, as I definitely have plans to remain involved in finance for a time to come.

This leaves one major question – what will I choose to do next year? As of last week, it seems like there have been strong indications of interest that the Four Wood team will extend a return offer.

There was no formal performance review but feedback came in little bursts throughout the summer. In terms of the feedback I received, the team commented that I was a quick study and fit in really well at Four Wood Capital Partners. I was also able to juggle a lot of tasks at once, which I think was a big plus in a firm with about 25 people. I think my attitude towards working with a new company went over well. For areas to improve on, I’ll reference back to myself being a quick study—with friends, it can be easy to talk about topics which I am no master of, but with financial professionals, they are all much more experienced than me, and it is important to know everything about a topic if you don’t want it to become clear you have no idea what you are really talking about.

I have enjoyed my summer internship and hope all followers have enjoyed reading about it.

It's only words and words are all I have to take your heart away....

Hi there folks!

You must be wondering why the title of my post is from a Boyzone song from decades ago. The rason is because no matter what context the boyzone used these lyrics in, it applies to every situation I can think of. Do you remember when your mum warned you that words are like arrows- they can never be taken back ? (well except ofcourse in sci-fi movies they can..but lets pretend not to be superheroes here :)

Why I'm dwelling so much on this message of words is because the last two weeks, I have been trying to socialise with and influence several business partners about a framework that I have developed, and my best friends are impactful words, thoughtful messaging and attention to my audience.

Thanks to my manager at Microsoft, I am paying a lot more attention to the way I relay my messages to business partners and it has been a great learning experience so far. It is not sufficient to have a great model/ framework/ findings if they are not messaged carefully and with impact. This is a skill that comes with awareness, practise and experience (in the words of my mentor). So I'm practising...:)
So for all the finance guys out there- remember, your numbers are only as good as the "words" accompanying them. And the right words take some preparation..

And btw, tomorrow the MBA interns at Microsoft (just the 60 of us) are having lunch with Steve Balmer- I'm super excited!!!!!

All I really need to know.

There are so many things that I need to work on, but the greatest assets that I have - and perhaps most of all, my very extensive experience in hi-tech - I did not acquire in business school, but long before that. Some of the really good ones such as playing nicely with the other kids, perhaps as early as in kindergarten.

Looking at how my strengths and weaknesses reflected through my work this summer, I find that my summer internship is basically amplifying everything. My strong research skills and analytical skills are helping me solve problems I encounter, and my background is really helping me have meaningful talks about the industry with different people in the company (which, for example, is awesome for networking). But working on my final presentation, for example, required putting in a pile of overtime to get the job done. This is something that as a marketer I need to invest more time and patience in than I ever have.

I am able to see the great progress I've done this year in transitioning to marketing. Taking the Management Presentations class certainly paid off and presenting in front of an audience in a relaxed manner comes so much easier now that I can really start to work on specifics I need to improve rather than be concerned with the whole. I am able to quickly treat problems I encounter as business cases and ask many of the necessary questions from the get-go.

But you do know what is really important to do as a marketer in a company like Dell, don't you? Smile to whomever you come across. Be open and true to yourself and to others around you. Do things for your peers and not just for yourself. Things you learn in kindergarten.

Work. Enjoy. Learn.

It is amazing (and maybe even a bit scary!) how fast time flies! Especially when you are enjoying it. Seven weeks of my internship are now gone and three weeks from now I’ll on the other side of the world, in China, touring with incoming MBA1s some of the most ancient historic sights of the world. And it is about that time when my fellow Groupon interns and I start asking ourselves “If you got an offer, will you take it?”

According to me, it is impossible to answer this question without first thinking whether the company culture fits me and thinking even beyond that – what is it that I am looking for in my future job and/or company? In one word! For me, everything boils down to two words: continuous learning. I believe it is extremely important to be surrounded by people who are smarter than me and who push me to be the best I can be, to grow, to learn because in my opinion once you stop learning it is time to move on. This is why I decided to quit my previous job and get an MBA and now, having spent a year among peers who are as driven as myself – this is what I am looking for in my future company.

So does Groupon offer continuous learning? I think so. Probably one of the things I’ve enjoyed most so far is the Summer Learning Series – a series of breakfast & learns that gives MBA Summer Associates exposure to some of the CXOs of the company. So far we have had the chance to poke the minds of the CFO, CMO and COO (not to mention that I ran into Andrew Mason himself in the elevator) and learn more about their road to Groupon and their visions for the future of the company. I have to say that I have been impressed not only by how accomplished and smart all these people are but also by how approachable, energetic, down-to-earth and passionate they are. And it was great to hear my own thoughts about the importance of continuous learning and “surrounding yourself with people that make you feel dumb” vocalized by Jeff Holden, one of the most charismatic and poised people I’ve met, last week. 

Fortunately, this culture of learning (and teaching) does not stop when you become a full-time employee. There are multiple lunch & learns when employees who feel they are an expert on a given topic, anything from Excel to marketing to self-defense is fair game, share their expertise with their fellow Groupeners.

7 weeks in

I have been at my internship for 7 weeks now, and there is still so much to learn about the industry and even my job. I learn something new everyday, and there are challenges all the time. The first observation I made about the industry is that it is very hierarchical. There are ranks within this industry and people put a lot of emphasis and respect on it. This makes sense, since for the people at the top, it took them a lot of determination and hard work to get there. So for my group in particular, I get to sit right across from managing directors  (md) or directors, but I don't get to interact with them a whole lot. The way it works is such that project ideas come from mds, and then the people like associates and directors will plan to make the project work out. So I usually work closely with analysts and associates. I don't think hierarchy is a bad thing, though it does make the office culture a lot more formal.

As for company culture, I must say, I really like Deutsche Bank's culture. I really like that people are willing to take time to explain how to do things, and they are really open to questions as well. For instance, I would be given an assignment, and if I don't understand anything, I could ask the most embarrassing or basic question and they are happy to explain it, even if it would take quite a bit of time. I also like that people in my group are very friendly. They joke around with each other a lot, and often take time to check in with the interns and just hang around to answer any kind of questions. So despite the hierarchy, people are still very approachable.

There's only 3 more weeks left in my internship, and its about time to wrap up some long term projects and kick start the final project!

My view of consulting

I used to think consulting is all about problem solving, which is kind of true. But consulting is more than that. It is about professionalism, no matter what you do, whether it is important or not, always deliver the result with highest possible quality. It is about relationship, building trust with clients and teammates in an intensive short period of time.  It is about commitment, dedicating time and effort to learn clients’ business and problems, always deliver what you promised.  As one of my colleague said “consulting is not a job, it is a profession, and it is a lifestyle choice.”

 After talking with my classmates working in other consulting firms, I feel all the firms are more or less the same at the business side. It is the culture that differentiates the firm. One of the key cultures at Deloitte is “Networking”. It is the best way to make yourself known to the rest of the firm. At industry, your boss will tell you what you need to do. But in a consulting firm, you don’t have a fixed boss. You need to constantly look for your next project, so it is important to build your brand and reputation in those networking event and in your project. Good news is Deloitte will organize a lot formal networking event for you. And every Friday, partners, principle and directors will make themselves available, so you could schedule meetings to connect with them.

Another distinctive culture is that you can feel Deloitte really care about you. I still receive emails from the person that interviewed me and asking how I am doing. Several Ross alumni at the firm also contacted me and ask whether they can be any help. The firm also organized many expensive training and social events for us to learn and relax.  There are many other things that make you feel you are part of the big Deloitte family.

"We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts."

A few days ago, I realized that I'd passed the halfway point of my internship, leaving myself with not a whole lot of time to finish up the remainder of my projects. Sure, Amazon sets stretch goals so timelines and targets can be a little on the ambitious side, but wouldn’t you rather be at a firm that challenges you rather than settling for ‘just good enough’? To be honest, I’m actually pretty surprised at the work-life balance at AMZN having come from my previous stint as a consultant – people work hard to get things done, but you’ll not find people staying late just to ‘show face’ to their bosses. As long as you get your job done, it’s all good. That’s the Amazon way.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed at Amazon thus far is the level of access we’ve had to senior levels of leadership. I know I’ve touched on this previously, but we just had an intern dinner yesterday where we were free to mingle around with directors and VPs. Of course, by mingle, I meant “ask strategic questions so that I know where the firm will be in 5-7 years”. Trust me when I say that the senior leadership here is smart and sharp, yet they remain very approachable and are eager to answer whatever difficult questions that get lobbed their way. Apart from Kindle-specific questions, which are under the usual ‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you’ levels of secrecy. In fact, the Kindle VP told me that if I had a great idea, all I had to do was to write up a one-page document and send it directly to him and he’d review it for consideration. How many firms have the resources, openness and flexibility to make that happen?

Another great thing about Amazon is the number of MBA interns we have here. With more than 150 of us here, there’s no shortage of people to meet and beers to chug. It’s always interesting to get different perspectives from the other interns, with everybody having their own war stories to share over a good time at the bar. After all, there’s nothing like washing down a week of hard work with a frothy pint of Weissbier. Mmm, beer.

It’s also worth mentioning that the weather has truly turned for the better – the real summer has finally arrived, albeit a good month later than what I’d been led to believe. What that means is that short sleeves and shorts (well, not for the manager interns anyway – we’re too classy for that) are back in season. Hopefully that’ll hold till the end of my stay here as I still need to check the ‘hike up Mount Rainier’ box off my summer checklist.

Finally, if you’re an avid mobile gamer with a Kindle Fire, keep your eyes peeled for GameCircle, an all-new gaming experience that enables achievements, leaderboards and game synchronization to add an additional layer of fun and socialization to your favorite mobile games on the Kindle Fire. If you are a mobile game developer, hop on over to http://amazon.com/gamecircle to learn how you can build these exciting new features into your games today.

Yes, I had the snake and it was tasty.

 

 Some seafood, yesterday. 

Meals on wheels.

Half-way through internship

It has been a great 6 weeks at Google. I had a check-in with my host last week on how things were going, my experience thus far.

Google makes it a point to do this to ensure that interns have an opportunity to receive timely inputs. Overall my experience so far has been great. 

I have had a chance to share my interim findings and am now on to my implementation phase. What this really means is interns get an opportunity to do meaningful work and really immerse themselves in the culture of the place. I am beginning to get a hang of how things are done here and am able to navigate my way around.

On the fun side of things, we have quite a lot of intern activities that are going on which gives me a chance to meet other interns. A few of us are going to watch a movie, get dinner in the city and really get to know each other. All the interns have such informal groups. We have frequent sharing sessions with other interns and this also gives an opportunity for all of us to understand or at least get a glimpse of the projects other interns are doing.

I had a chance to meet the OCD Director last week together with an alumnus who is working at Google. We had a great conversation about his perception of Ross.

On a personal front, I bought my new car and it is amazing! I went to the Indian temple nearby and did the necessary ‘Pooja’ (prayers) – this is part of the Indian tradition. Over the last few weeks, I have also had a chance to connect with some of my high-school friends from India who are now working in the Bay area!

A great few weeks I must say! 

You have to love New York

Time flies! I’m already half way through my internship! On Wednesday, I had my mid-summer review with my manager and HR. My project is right on truck; and ready to move to the next phase on Monday. I’m so grateful that my manager has been very supportive during the past 5 weeks. Despite her extremely busy schedule, she made sure that I can attend all summer speaker series and training sessions, and worked out my project schedule round it. One thing that I feel is very important to be successful during the internship is being independent and self-efficient. Since my internship is based on one big project, there is not a typical day of work. I manage my own work pace and keep my manager informed of the project progress.

Besides working on my project, I have also been learning about other areas of Citigroup through net working with other interns, and my junior and senior mentors. However, because the first phase of my project was mainly done silo, I feel I haven’t put enough effort into networking and getting to know other FMAs. That is one of the things I intend to work on during the next five weeks.

Life in New York City has been amazing! There is always so much to do. Lots of my friends in NYC are investment bankers and consultants. Because of their irregular working hours, it has been hard for us to make get together plans ahead of time. However, this doesn’t stop us from enjoying the city at all. No matter how late it is at night, we can always find great places to go. From rooftop lounges to beer bars, from museums to riverside parks, the city offers everything to its residents. Outside Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn also offer great additions to the city life. This past Sunday, I went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn for NYC Food Truck Rally. Spend a few dollars, you can get amazing kimchi tacos, exotic ice-cream or delicious grilled cheese : )